One of the biggest changes we made with the launch of the new NPR.org was offering free transcripts on the site. Ever since NPR started transcribing its radio programs in 1990, we have been selling transcripts to help defray the costs of producing them. In the old days, we used to mail out copies of the transcripts, a time-consuming and expensive process for all involved. In 2002 we added e-commerce to the transcript operation and were able to drop the prices and deliver the transcripts via email.
Though machines with 4GB are not yet the typical purchase for home or business use, they are readily available from major manufacturers and it won’t be long before they are the typical purchase. But there are problems. You don’t have to stand for long in a computer shop to hear a sales assistant talk of 4GB as some sort of limit for 32-bit operating systems, and it won’t be long before this sales patter develops into outright promotion of 64-bit Windows as the only way to get past this limit.
The global economic crisis isn’t about money - it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — What began 60 years ago as a humble television store in this sleepy Southern capital ended Sunday as Circuit City closed its doors for good — its 567 remaining U.S. stores to be left broom clean and vacant. For the last month and a half, a group of four liquidators have conducted going-out-of-business sales for what was the nation’s second-largest consumer electronics retailer, selling its remaining $1.7 billion worth of inventory weeks sooner than expected.
It’s not always about money; sometimes hackers just hate you Malware authors and hackers have to eat like the rest of us, but security data from 2008 suggests many engage in their illegal activities for other reasons besides a desire to get money. Twenty-four percent of all the attacks the Web Hacking Incidents Database logged for 2008 were related to website defacement.
Microsoft has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against TomTom alleging that the device maker’s products, including some that are Linux-based, infringe on patents related to Microsoft’s FAT32 filesystem. This marks the first time that Microsoft has enforced its FAT patents against the Linux platform, a move that some free software advocates have long feared could be disastrous.
Microsoft (MSFT) has gone and done it, they’ve filed suit in U.S. District Court claiming Linux violates their patents. The case centers on portable GPS device maker Tomtom, which uses Linux in its device. Despite Microsoft claiming for years that parts of Linux infringe on its intellectual property, the case is believed to be the first time Microsoft has tried to prove a case against Linux in court.
Currently, diamond is regarded to be the hardest known material in the world. But by considering large compressive pressures under indenters, scientists have calculated that a material called wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) has a greater indentation strength than diamond. The scientists also calculated that another material, lonsdaleite (also called hexagonal diamond, since it’s made of carbon and is similar to diamond), is even stronger than w-BN and 58 percent stronger than diamond, setting a new record.
I spent a few days recently in the company of some money managers with a total of about $2 trillion to invest, precisely the sort of folks whose confidence the government is currently trying to win. How did they feel about all of the rule and policy changes coming out of Washington and the new more muscular government? Terrified.
Blizzard notched another victory in its legal campaign against World of Warcraft bots when a judge on Wednesday ruled that a leading bot violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. MDY Industries LLC, the firm that develops and sells the Glider bot, already suffered a major setback last summer when the judge granted Blizzard summary judgment on several key issues. This week’s decision deals with the issues the judge believed could not be decided until the conclusion of this month’s trial. The judge ruled that Glider violated the DMCA’s ban on “circumvention devices,” and he also found that MDY’s founder, Michael Donnelly, was personally liable for the actions of his firm.
The Internal Revenue Service should start taxing the fledgling virtual economy in Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other virtual worlds according to Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson. In her annual report published on the IRS website, Olsen said that there are still a number of issues that the IRS should “proactively address” before they get out of control. And now that it’s on the IRS’ radar, it’s likely only a matter of time before Uncle Sam tries to figure out some way to get a cut of your gold.
The technology marketplace is littered with competing standards, some open, others proprietary. A number of academics, both in the legal field and out, have argued that open standards are superior for both the market and consumers. They allow companies to produce products that compete on their merits, rather than their ability to play nice with other hardware or content, and they prevent consumers from being harmed by product lock-ins. A Berkeley Law professor, Robert P. Merges, has just released a working paper entitled IP Rights and Technological Platforms in which he argues that proprietary standards and the intellectual property that back them aren’t as harmful as they’re made out to be. Instead, a minor modification of IP law should be sufficient to enable a competition between open and closed standards.
Andrew Calamari, a senior enforcement official at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, described the scheme as “a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions”.
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — Bernard Madoff’s scam that allegedly cost investors $50 billion ensnared firms stretching from Paris to Tokyo to Madrid. BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank, has as much as 350 million euros ($472 million) at risk from Madoff’s investment advisory business, the bank said yesterday. Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s largest brokerage, has 27.5 billion yen ($302 million) at risk from Madoff’s funds, while Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA may face up to 300 million euros in losses.
Federal district judge Dale A. Kimball has handed down the final judgment in the SCO case. The decision dismisses SCO’s latest claims, grants declaratory relief to Novell, and sustains the court’s previous judgment that SCO owes Novell over $2.54 million (plus interest) for unjust enrichment.
